The present invention relates to improvements in data display communication systems, and more particularly, pertains to new and improved editing and formatting techniques in data display communication systems wherein data communicated between remote points or stored in a memory may be displayed as desired by an operator for the purpose of editing such data.
In the field of data display communication systems wherein such display devices as cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) are utilized, it has been the practice to employ dedicated hardware logic for performing the various required functions of the display communication system. Even with the advent of microcomputers, prior art data display communication systems restricted themselves to hardwire logic. This course was chosen in order to provide a product that was sufficiently fast in responding to an operator, thereby preventing an aesthetically intolerable display delay between functions, and at the same time be cost effective in the market place. In the past, this balancing between speed and cost always resulted in a microcomputer not being utilized in data display communication systems. Though the less sophisticated microcomputers are relatively inexpensive, they are also too slow for such an application.
Even with an all hardwire logic processing unit, prior data display communication systems have considerable difficulty in obtaining operating speeds for the performance of various editing functions that prevented aesthetically unpleasant display flicker and delay between operations. Besides these shortcomings, the prior art hardwire dedicated logic data display communication systems are cumbersome and difficult to troubleshoot and repair. The data display communication system of the present invention overcomes these difficulties by utilizing off-the-shelf microprocessors in combination with unique hardwire logic to provide a flexible, extremely fast operating, modular type, data display communications system.